TREMOR-EEU project

TREMOR-EEU - An extension of the project for BCI-driven tremor suppression system based on functional electrical stimulation

Project duration: May 2010 - May 2011

Problem

Tremor is the most common movement disorder and it is strongly increasing in incidence and prevalence with ageing. Tremor is not life-threatening, but it can be responsible for functional disability and social inconvenience. It is typically managed by means of drugs, surgery (thalamotomy), and deep brain stimulation, but treatments are not effective in approximately 25% of patients.

Tremor is generated either at Central or at Peripheral Nervous System (CNS or PNS) and affects various body parts, i.e. the hands, forearms, head/neck, facial muscles, tongue, trunk, and legs. Most tremors involve the hands. The most disabling forms of tremor are essential tremor, Parkinsonian rest tremor and cerebellar kinetic tremor. Essential tremor affects approximately 4% of the population above 65 years of age and is the most common movement disorder in the elderly. Parkinsonian tremor affects about 1% of the population over the age of 50. Cerebellar tremor is typically kinetic and affects about 0.1% of the global population. More than 65% of the population with upper limb tremor presents serious difficulties in performing activities of daily living (ADL).

TREMOR project

The main objective of the Tremor project is to validate, technically, functionally and clinically, the concept of mechanically suppressing tremor through selective Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) based on a (Brain-to-Computer Interaction) BCI-driven detection of involuntary (tremor) motor activity:

The system will detect and monitor involuntary motor activity (tremor) through a multimodal BCI. The proposed BCI will combine CNS (Electroencephalography, EEG) and PNS (Electromyography, EMG) data with biomechanical data (Inertial Measurement Units, IMUs) in a sensor fusion approach. It will model and track tremor and voluntary motion.
It will also include a multi-channel array FES system for selective stimulation of muscles for tremor suppression while reducing the influence on voluntary motion.
For a potential commercial exploitation the embodiment must fit potential user expectations in terms of cosmetics, functionality and aesthetics.

TREMOR proposes a multimodal BCI in which the main goal is identifying, characterizing and tracking involuntary motor bioelectrical activity as a command to trigger a biomechanical suppression of tremor.

For more information about TREMOR project (including final report) see the CORDIS site.

TREMOR-EEU project

TREMOR – Enlarged European Union project represents the extension of the original TREMOR project. It's main objective is to validate, technically, and functionally, the concept of online tremor detection from reduced set of EEG data and its characterization from noninvasively acquired surface EMG. This increases the robustness of the TREMOR BCI by implementing and validating:

Online and self-learning EEG artefact suppression.
Decomposition of tremor affected surface EMG in order to quantify neurophysiological mechanisms contributing to muscle tremor.
Computationally effective integration of heterogeneous and multimodal EEG, EMG and IMU data streams with FES-based tremor suppression.